The number of people left waiting on hospital trolleys in May fell by 14% when compared with the same period last year, new figures have shown.

However, over 6,600 patients were still left waiting on trolleys nationwide last month.

The figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) show that 6,627 patients were on trolleys in May 2016 compared to 7,713 in May 2015.

The hospitals with the highest trolley figures last month were University Hospital Limerick (592), Dublin's Beaumont Hospital (535), Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda (451), the Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore (448) and South Tipperary General Hospital (448).

While welcoming the reduction in waiting figures, the INMO warned that ‘this positive development will be short lived if the recruitment pause recently announced by the HSE is not stood down immediately'.

"The inevitable consequence of any delays in recruitment of nurses and other frontline staff will result in the curtailment of services and a reduction in bed capacity, which will exacerbate pressures on the Emergency Departments (EDs)," the organisation insisted.

It called on the Minister for Health and the HSE to lift all restrictions on recruiting frontline staff.

"The confusion that now exists with regard to recruitment must be removed so that we can attract back to Ireland the 4,000 Irish nurses and midwives needed to fill vacant posts and safely staff our services," commented INMO general secretary, Liam Doran.